NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 20, 2001

Brian Anderson

BRIAN ANDERSON: Well, I think, number one, our bullpen has done the job all year long and I think it was unfairly criticized the last couple of days. That seemed to be a story that everybody was going for. But you're talking about guys that I think was fourth in the National League in ERA, and a group of guys who have done the job all year long. It was one bad game against a very quality team. So it was nice to see the guys go out tonight and get the job done. It kind of hopefully put the -- let the criticism die down a little bit and just kind of mellow things out a little bit, because, like I said, they've been nails all year. They came in, and there was a lot of tough outs tonight. Mo-man (Mike Morgan) with Chipper. You had Chipper and Brian Jordan coming up in a tough situation, and struck out Chipper, and then Jordan was able to get the ball in the hole. But he hit a pitch that was down, a good pitch. Greg Swindell came down and got Surhoff on a pop-up that was huge. Then obviously with BK coming in to a bases-loaded situation in a game that one swing of the bat, they catch one pitch, they tie it up. He came in and really did the job. So it was nice to see the guys come in and come through in such a tight situation.

BRIAN ANDERSON: It's huge, obviously. Nothing's guaranteed when those guys pitch. Obviously they have a track record and they've been two of the most dominant starters of our era. So you know pretty much what you're going to get with them every time they go out there. The other games become very important for us also. Those are big games to win, and coming in to tonight, we knew tonight was a very big game. We didn't want to let the series get back to two games to two, and they obviously didn't want to let the series get to three games to one with Randy coming tomorrow night. But it was just a team effort. We realize what's at stake, and the guys that were throwing outside of Johnson and Schilling are more than capable. I mean, Albie Lopez has some of the best stuff I've ever seen. The guy throws low to mid 90s with -- he's just got great stuff. Miguel Batista has been probably -- you could make the argument he's been our most valuable pitcher this year for all the roles that he's covered: Starter, setup guy. He can do just about anything. He can throw -- start one game, take a day off, then relieve. So he's been nails all year long. Those guys are obviously more than capable, but to advance and to get where we want to go, we're going to need to win on those days. We realize that, and tonight we did.

BRIAN ANDERSON: First of all, I'm not even going to attempt to get into BK's mind. I have no idea what goes on in his head. But coming into that situation, I would think that if it's me, the only thing that I'm thinking is, "Make pitches." You obviously know that you're behind the eight ball. Javy Lopez at the plate. The guy has got tremendous power. You saw that with the pitch he hit out on Miguel in Game 2, ball's down and off the plate. He put a charge in it to rightfield. So you know the danger's lurking. But I think it's just all about making pitches. You have to go out in that situation, I think, and put complete trust in your stuff and just try to make -- try to execute the pitch. Whatever it may be, whatever location it's called in, that you agree with the catcher on what you want to do, it's just execution. You know at that point that one of the next three guys, unless you get a double-play ball, is going to put the ball in play. They're not going to all strike out. Sometimes they do. But it's just execution of pitches, and BK came in tonight and executed his pitches brilliantly and got us out of that inning. Now obviously we're able to tack it on and made it for a little bit easier ninth.